8 Adventurous Ways to Explore Africa

Photo: Ludovic Hirlimann

Admission: we dont know most about Africa as tourist destination. So we done this list to get a little ideas.

1. Hitchhike a South

For any kind of long-term transport in Southern Africa (say, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, as good as South Africa), a most appropriate to rent a car. Or, some-more realistically, a little arrange of 44. But which sounds pricey. A cheaper choice would be to hitch.

Id be reluctant to do this if we hadnt read a advice of Mary Richardson. When she was operative as a Peace Corps proffer in Namibia, she found hitching to be a most reliable equates to of transport. Not usually that, but:

hitchhiking contributed a little of a most exciting transport practice Ive ever had. Over a period of dual years, we successfully hitchhiked by Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, as good as Malawi. An adventure which still thrills me to this day.

If she can do it, Im fairly positive we could too. Even better, shes common 15 tips for hitchhiking in Southern Africa, together with general advice as good as a little plain routes to try out.

Photo: Blyzz

Victoria Falls, Cape Town, a Namib Desert, as good as a major cities in a region have been all accessible to a hitcher.

2. Work as a Bush Pilot

This would take care of transport costs. Plus bring in a wage upon a side though, as Cedric Pieterse records in How to Become a Bush Pilot not a lot.

But man, a adventure. Heres how Pieterse sums it up:

Bush pilots all over a world have warranted their apply oneself from associate pilots. There is a reason for this. To be a brush pilot, we do not fly by a numbers. Most of a time we do not use registered airf! ields or any airfields during all. It requires seat-of-the-pants drifting in inauspicious conditions You contingency be equates to to understanding with abnormal conditions similar to stealing ice from a carry out surfaces of a plane, since it got frozen over night. In Africa, we had to change tires since a lions chewed by them!

At first glance, it looks officious dangerous as good as scary. With a right training, it is neither

PPL (Private Pilots License), CPL (Commercial Pilots License), as good as specialized brush commander precision required. Probably value it, though.

3. Study Abroad

Just as couchsurfing is opposite from hostel-surfing, as good as operative abroad is opposite from backpacking, investigate abroad is a form of transport singular from all others.

Its tough to deny a benefits: You get all of a tough things (i.e., room as good as board) planned for you, entrance to a await system is (generally) positive should anything go wrong, as good as we clarity (both in a clarity of receiving credit as good as having those big experiences).

Photo: paulshaffner

I took a month-long beautiful writing course in Galway, Ireland, after my freshman year as good as still equate it as a single of a most appropriate choices of my life.

It kicked off my career as a caucasian tribe as good as confirmed for me a type of people we most appropriate get along with as good as what we wish to be you do in life.

But, as Matador contributor Alexis Wolff says:

A decade ago, simply deciding to investigate abroad in Africa positive which your knowledge would be unique. Today, with flourishing seductiveness in a continent as good as some-more investigate abroad options than ever, those looking an knowledge opposite from their classmates additionally need to collect a right program.

So, where in Africa should we i! nvestiga te abroad? Wolff offers 5 plain suggestions in her piece, together with Boston Universitys Niamey International Development Program in Niger as good as a School for Field Studies Wildlife Management Studies Program in Kenya.

4. Take It Slow up a East Coast

Ewan McGregor as good as Charley Boorman kind of popularized a idea of traversing a continent from finish to end, yet travelers have been you do this in opposite ways for decades. One of a most recent is transport photographer Darren Ornitz, who journeyed from Cape Town, up a eastern half of Africa to Djibouti, as good as afterwards over to a Arabian Peninsula, taking internal transport all a way.

I was desirous by a photos he brought back as good as common with us during Matador Trips. Check them out in Photo Essay: Africa as good as a Middle East, Overland.

Photo: hermanusbackpackers

5. Dive with Great Whites

For me, this a single wouldnt be so most an African adventure as a mental a single sharks shock a crap out of me. News stories similar to Tourist killed by dinosaur-sized shark off South African beach dont help.

The waters around Cape Town have been a renouned hangout for great whites, as good as a tourism industry has been built around putting people in cages as good as dunking them in a water when a single swims by.

Carly Blatt has a little difference of advice for any one meddlesome in a cage dive (um, yeah, substantially not me):

The most appropriate months for shark sightings have been April to August, whilst early January to mid-March lend towards to be a worst. When formulation a shark diving adventure, keep in mind which severe weather may prevent a boats from going out, so a most appropriate to allocate an extra day in case your original outing is postponed.

Read some-more in Face to Face with South Africas Great Whites.

6. Volunteer!

Again, volunteering is a way to get a utterly opposite transport experience. You see firsthand what comprises every day hold up for a people around you, as good as where assistance is needed we might be propitious sufficient to be equates to to lend a hand.

Photo: US Army Africa

When we volunteered in Bolivia for 3+ months last year, we got to transport to pueblitos upon a high, cold Andean Altiplano as good as come to comprehend a struggles people face when they have no electricity in their homes, schools, clinics.

I worked with internal org Energetica, who partners with groups in Tanzania, a nation experiencing many of a same issues.

Choosing a proffer gig requires substantial research; a good place to begin is with 44 Organizations Providing Internships, Volunteer Vacations, as good as Long-Term Programs in Africa.

Theres additionally Lola Akinmades excellent Nations Less Traveled: Volunteer Opportunities in Africa, a beam to proffer work in countries outward of a big names.

7. Island Hop a East Coast

An pick to a overland track of #4 is to stick to a sea. The Swahili Coast off Tanzania as good as Kenya is dotted with islands similar to Zanzibar as good as Lamu.

In describing a latter, Gregory Kruse says:

Photo: geoftheref

The slight alleyways of a old town hardly assent a thoroughfare of dual people side-by-side. Theres usually a single automobile upon a island, as good as roughly everybody gets around upon foot, or upon donkey-back.

A bit farther south is a most bigger island, a single which Matador founder Ross Borden had a chance to try this past spring. See a connections he done with a people as good as a land in Photo Essay: Life in Western Madagascar.!

8. Cycle a Western Sahara

Ive logged 2,700 miles value of pedal strokes in a tropics of Southeast Asia as good as by an even wetter Maritime Canada. Time for a desert?

Im not sure Ive got a balls to follow in Helen Lloyds tracks, though. Shes an additional continent crosser, usually her selected equates to of transport was a bicycle, as good as her track took her by 900km of sand as good as gloom in a Spanish-colony-turned-disputed-territory of a Western Sahara.

She was kind sufficient to share photos to let copycats similar to me know what were up against.

Community Connection

For some-more scrutiny ideas, check out Three Little-Known Beach Getaways in Western Africa as good as 50+ Things to Do in 50 African Countries.

And dont dont think about to hit up a Matador village of travelers to see whos on-continent as good as what theyre up to.